Torre Emperador Castellana (originally Torre Espacio)
An exceptionally privileged site on Madrid’s most important avenue called for a building that would represent the client’s identity and serve its tenants’ needs while engaging the city of which it is a part.
To address these goals, the tower includes 43 typical office floors, two corporate floors at the top of the tower, three floors of commercial space at the base of the building, and six levels of underground parking. Occupying a significant site within the new CBD, the design explores the potential of nonorthogonal geometries, deployed in both plan and section, to engender an unprecedented tower form.
Show Facts
Site
Lot 4 of the Plan Parcial de Reforma Interior “Ciudad Deportiva del Real Madrid”
Components
120,000 m2 / 1,290,000 ft2 gross area; offices, lobby, three floors of commercial space at the base of the tower, underground parking
Client
Torre Espacio Castellana S. A. Grupo Villar Mir
PCF&P Services
Architecture, exterior envelope, interior design of public spaces
Sustainability
BREEAM In-Use Excellent
Awards
Design Award of Honor
Society of American Registered Architects, 2019
Design Awards: Citation
American Institute of Architects, New York State Chapter, 2013
Best Commercial High-Rise Europe
International Property Awards, 2015
Ground floor plan
A cosine curve rationalizes the transition between the intersection of two quarter-circles.
Evolving from a square plan at its base to a gently curved lozenge, the tower is shaped by the intersection of two quarter-circles at its crown. Since the rate of curvature changes gradually over the tower’s height, a cosine curve helped rationalize the transition and simplified the fabrication and assembly process.
The tower’s geometry produces 52 distinct floorplates.
Project Credits
Associate Architect: Reid Fenwick Associados, Madrid; Structural: MC-2 Estudio de Ingenieria, Madrid; HVAC: Promec, Madrid; Mechanical: R. Urculo Ingenieros Consultores, Madrid; Images: Fernando Guerra, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, PCF&P